Sep. 7--Banks in Thailand are looking at using social media in their promotional and marketing campaigns.

Social media featured in Citibank's discussions with its foreign branches, said Tohphan Tuchinda, Citibank Thailand's head of corporate affairs. The bank expects social networks to become a key channel for communicating with younger consumers.

Social media could offer advantages in terms of accessibility, speed, convenience and costs. The web-based technology can also convert one-way communication into two-way and multi-player dialogues.

But the bank has as yet no plan to create a community networking channel for internal and external communication. The US-based bank currently uses an intranet system and e-mail for internal contact.

Despite the benefits of social media, the bank needs to carefully consider their use, said Mr Tohphan. Security and the institution's image are key concerns.

"Using the social networking channel should be allowed to specific units in the bank, such as public relations to control sensitive issues and preserve the bank's image," he said.

Kasikornbank is likely to be Thailand's first bank to adopt social media, in addition to its existing tool of Lotus Notes. The bank has registered accounts with Hi5 and Facebook and is about to employ Twitter.

But the bank has no plan to use social networks for contacting customers or for digital marketing. Expanding to external communication would take careful study, a KBank spokesman said.

"The bank is studying the social networking channel and we have tested the communication route by opening Hi5 and Facebook for specific group connections," the spokesman said.

"For customer contact via the channel, the bank would weigh [the pros and cons between] increasing clients' convenience and annoying them."

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